# Episode 169 - Troubleshooting Magic Screen Scoring

**Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2015-08-27  
**Duration:** 21m 6s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-169-troubleshooting-magic-screen-scoring

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## Analysis

Nick Baldridge provides comprehensive technical guidance on troubleshooting Magic Screen scoring mechanisms in EM/bingo pinball machines, using Circus Queen as a case study. He explains systematic testing methodology for inline wins, section scoring, blue section detection, and OK/red letter games, detailing mechanical interactions between steppers, search discs, and relay systems. The episode emphasizes efficient testing protocols that avoid redundant verification while ensuring all scoring paths function correctly.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Circus Queen features a blue section that scores either 300 or 600 replays based on whether 2 or 3 balls are in the blue section — _Nick Baldridge discussing Circus Queen's specific blue section mechanics in response to Brandon's troubleshooting question_
- [HIGH] Magic Screen games have two or three different payout paths depending on screen position — _Nick Baldridge explaining fundamental Magic Screen game architecture_
- [HIGH] Testing all four and five in a line combinations is often unnecessary if three in a line scoring works properly, as four/five uses the same replay counter mechanism — _Nick Baldridge explaining efficient testing shortcuts for Magic Screen games_
- [HIGH] The blue section detection mechanism differs from other sections because it requires fewer balls to score — _Nick Baldridge explaining the technical difference in how blue sections detect ball positions_
- [MEDIUM] A misadjusted search index switch caused a five-in-a-section non-payout issue in one of Nick's service cases — _Nick Baldridge recounting a real troubleshooting case from his experience_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's highly unlikely if you have your inline scoring working that you're going to have a problem with four or five in a line...because your four and five in a line works properly and the main mechanism that really controls that aside from finding the winner is the replay counter."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Explains efficient testing methodology by identifying which mechanisms are most critical to verify_

> "The game is smart enough not to pay you twice...In order to make it score again, what you have to do is push the reset plunger with your index finger or with a dowel and that will reset the replay counter for that color back to the zero position."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, early-mid episode
> _Describes the anti-repeat logic in Magic Screen games and how to reset it for successive testing_

> "You're going to hear a very alarming noise that is slightly less alarming than it is normally and that's the sequence and winner units stepping up like crazy in order to determine if you've got the right stuff in order to win a replay."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Describes the auditory signal of section scoring detection mechanism, helping technicians identify proper operation_

> "It's pretty ingenious the way that they did this with the interplay between the sequence unit and the winner unit, but that's a rather complex interaction."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Acknowledges the sophisticated mechanical engineering in Magic Screen section detection systems_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast, expert technician providing detailed Magic Screen troubleshooting guidance |
| Brandon (CPW75) | person | Caller to the bingo line asking about efficient testing methodology for Magic Screen scoring payouts; owns a Circus Queen machine |
| Circus Queen | game | Magic Screen bingo pinball game with blue section featuring 300/600 replay awards and triple deck scoring; used as primary case study in episode |
| For Amusement Only | organization | EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast hosted by Nick Baldridge, available on multiple platforms including iTunes, Stitcher, Facebook, Twitter |
| Magic Screen | product | Electromechanical display mechanism used in pinball and bingo machines featuring moving metal screen that selectively reveals numbers and game elements |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Magic Screen game troubleshooting and testing methodology, EM/bingo pinball scoring mechanisms and relay systems, Circus Queen specific features and testing, Search index and replay counter mechanics
- **Secondary:** Efficient diagnostic testing strategies for minimizing redundant checks, Blue section detection and scoring logic, OK/red letter game mechanics

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[operational_signal]** Nick Baldridge provides comprehensive technical framework for diagnosing Magic Screen game scoring issues, emphasizing systematic testing of inline wins, section scoring, blue section detection, and OK games with specific mechanical procedures and diagnostic shortcuts (confidence: high) — Detailed multi-part technical explanation covering steppers, search discs, relay engagement, and anti-repeat logic with real-world troubleshooting example
- **[operational_signal]** Nick demonstrates efficient testing prioritization: verify three-in-a-line first, then infer four/five success from replay counter integrity; test sections with non-continuous ball placement; use reset plungers and anti-cheat relays to minimize full-game resets (confidence: high) — Specific testing sequence and mechanical shortcuts explained throughout episode with rationale for efficiency gains
- **[operational_signal]** Search index switch adjustment identified as critical failure point in Magic Screen scoring diagnostics; emphasized as rare but detectable through careful mechanical adjustment (confidence: high) — Nick references one real troubleshooting case where five-in-a-section non-payout was caused by search index switch misadjustment, contrasting rarity of this issue with other problems
- **[gameplay_signal]** Magic Screen games employ sophisticated interplay between sequence units, winner units, search discs, and replay counters to detect ball combinations across multiple screen positions and scoring sections (confidence: high) — Detailed explanation of how game determines winners without understanding non-contiguous ball positions, requiring separate mechanisms for inline vs. section scoring
- **[content_signal]** For Amusement Only receives technical support calls on dedicated bingo line (724-246-4671) from community members seeking troubleshooting guidance, indicating active podcast listenership and service-oriented content model (confidence: high) — Brandon's call to bingo line initiating this episode; Nick encourages listener calls and questions at episode conclusion
- **[historical_signal]** Magic Screen games represent sophisticated electromechanical engineering achievement with elegant mechanical solutions to ball detection and payout logic problems (confidence: medium) — Nick's commentary describing the design as 'ingenious' and noting 'pretty rare' misadjustment scenarios in original manufacturing

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## Transcript

 What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. We got another call on the bingo line. Hey Nick, this is Brandon or CPW75. In the background you might hear a 600 win payoff going on, which is just a test. But that's the subject of my call. What's your recommendation for how to test the payouts? There's so many payouts involved, it doesn't seem efficient to test every single one. Is there an efficient way to make a selection of tests that can comprehensively test all the functions? Thank you. Game Magic ScreenGame, MagicScreenGames have essentially two different paths and sometimes three that the payouts can go through depending on the position of said screen. In Brandon's case, he's got a Circus Queen. This is the first game with a blue section that allows for three or two in the blue to score either 300 or 600 replays. So to your question Brandon, the easiest way that I've found to test replays is rather than systematically testing every single odds jump on a particular color, Brandon's machine also has triple deck scoring which means that the three odd steppers red, Dion S Daddykin, Hi méthenage Buttons, Florins, Each colors three, four, and five in a row. So, meaning I will set the odd steppers to their default position and then test every combination of three in a row for each color, every combination of four in a row for each color, and every combination of five in a row for each color. Now the way I accomplish this testing Maybe a little simpler than what you're doing depending although you've probably figured this out already but what I will do is let's say I'm testing all of the red. So on the default magic screen position this is what we're testing for inline wins. I will put three balls right beside each other in the red section. I'll shoot the fourth ball and just set it aside. After your fourth ball is shot and your fifth ball is lifted, you're able to push the R button in order to detect a winner. So I'll just set the fourth ball down on the apron and then walk to the back of the machine. Ignore the R button. from here which need to do is push on and this is where it helps to have a wooden dowel so that you don't accidentally shock yourself somewhere but uh... push on the metal plate which holds the search this wipers in place what this will do is essentially the exact same thing that the are but impressed us in releasing those searches wipers they'll spin around and the search index will catch on Transformative tiefing You'll notice when the game steps up replays, it's going to step up the replay counter that's associated with that particular color. So let's take red again as our example. There's a red replay counter which will step up four times to count the number of wins. Now rather than reset the entire game and shoot a whole new one and do all that, what I will do instead is The ball in that line that furthest to the left one more position over to the right So we still have three in a row and now two of the numbers that were previously used are still used and the third one is now in play in a fourth number The fourth ball is still sitting on the apron waiting to test four in a rows. Then we go back to the back. Now, if you were to push on the plate which will start the search disk turning, it will not engage, and that's because you've already gotten a three in line win in the red. The game is smart enough not to pay you twice. So in order to make it score again, what you have to do is push the reset plunger with your index finger or with a dowel and that will reset the replay counter for that color back to the zero position, which will allow you to push the metal plate and then the search disk will spin, it will stop, the search index coil will engage, holding it in place, and then the replays will and I'll start counting again. So at this point you should have eight. Continue on with each color. So you'll have to reposition the balls after each win, and the easiest way that I find to do it because it can be difficult to reposition them depending on the holes that are in play is to sometimes gently move the shutter with one finger which willBe sure to tag the turtle on a lighter top recorder. CLEANING ALL wert nights I'm free You know the game is going to engage the search index when it's supposed to for each color in the default position of the magic screen. Now, here's where things get a little more tricky. There's a unit which will allow you to move the magic screen a certain number of positions. What you can do is actually step up this unit The game is on if you choose and this will allow you to move the screen. Now because you've shot your fourth ball that means that you will not be able to move the magic screen unless you step up the time tree unit. You need to step that up in order to engage before fifth or after fifth whichever you choose. Then the safest thing The first thing to do is to move the screen from the foot rail. And at this point what I do is move the screen so that you have at least position D or E shown. This means that either four or five pieces of the magic screen have been replaced. So the default bingo card is almost entirely or entirely wiped away. and a green section. Now, section scoring goes through an entirely separate mechanism or suite of mechanisms really that allow it to determine where your balls are and whether or not you should win. Now, it has to do this because the game doesn't understand by default if you have two balls in one color that are separated from each other that it should actually award you replays. So instead, it's got to figure out if you have three, four, or five in that colored section and then engage the search index and stop the search disk and start paying. It's pretty ingenious the way that they did this with the interplay between the sequence unit and the winner unit, but that's a rather complex interaction. So what you need to know at this point is that with the screen positions moved, you can now move the balls into those different colors. Those use the same replay counters that your red, your green, and your yellow inline wins use as well. So if you're testing that, you need to reset the Replay counters that you testing So let take yellow Now on many MagicScreen games there something called a supersection This allows you to put two balls in that striped yellow section that revealed by default starting with magic screen position A and going all the way up through the end I believe on Circus Queen At least one hole is still visible, but at any rate, you've got that super section. Let's test regular scoring. So in order to do this, what I do is put the balls in three different pockets which are physically separated. We don't want them in line at all. Then run around the back, push the plate, see what happens. You're going to hear a very alarming noise that is slightly The alarming that it is normally and that's the sequence in winter units stepping up like crazy in order to determine if you've got uh... the right stuff in order to win replace so uh... assuming that you get paid out properly there what i do at that point is assume that the section scoring is working for that particular section and then i work my way through each section and we do three in each particular section it's highly unlikely if you have your inline scoring working that you're going to have a problem with four or five in a line or in a section rather uh... because your four and five in a line works properly and the main mechanism that really controls that aside from finding the winner is the replay counter so assuming that you've rebuilt your replay counters and I saw uh... on Instagram that you had Then you should be good to go. Do your simple three in a section test and starting with the lowest odds you only have to wait for it to count up four. Your odds counters as long or your odds steppers rather your score Steppers as long as they've been rebuilt then you should be all good. And going on a previous podcast information about that what I can tell you is you want to make sure that it steps up crisply to every position and resets crisply back to the default position. As long as it does this and there are no broken wires, then you should be all good. Now, there's one final type of scoring and you mentioned it in your phone call and it sounds like you've got it working. And that is the blue section. Now the blue section detects balls a little differently than the other sections do and that's because it needs so few in order to score so if you have three balls in the blue section and you have three in the blue scores three hundred lit then it should count all the way up to three hundred if you have two in the blue lit you only have to drop two in the any of the blue uh... visible portions of the section Now the way it detects that is very similar to the other sections but the difference is that it knows through the trip relay for two in a blue uh... that it should start paying you so that trip relay has to be clean and adjusted properly and it is and that's a pretty rare that they come misadjusted, but it does happen and they can certainly get dirty but what I do is test for three in the blue and two in the blue and then I do a single test for six hundred. The reason I take a little shortcut there too is because it takes so long for it to count up six hundred replays. It takes forever. So at this point, you'll have maxed out your credit meter. And you simply have to turn the game off and back on and it will reset back to zero. It will not dump your balls until you push the start relay. But here's a little trick. If you push the anti-cheat relays plate, it will light up all the same numbers that you had lit previously. And from there, you can All you have to do is reset any of the trip relays that you don't want just by lifting the little plate and then trip another one with your wooden dowel pushing underneath very gently and it'll go click and fall. At that point you can test your 600 wins or your two in the blue. There are a lot of shortcuts to be had because you have to make sure that the game understands that every hole is actually working appropriately The only shortcuts that I found are that you can kinda bypass the four in a section and five in a section for the most part So, let's move on from there to OK games. OK games score when you have two in the orange section. Now, this detection happens in a very similar way to the way that the game determines if you have two in any other section. But, the game has to be able to drop all the balls and start an entirely new game with the appropriate features and odds based on which letter is highlighted in red on the back glass. This happens through a combination of the okay or red letter steppers and the green odds stepper. You'll have to verify based on the scorecard what it's doing. And the way that I test this is you can do it with simply the default green odds again if you choose. cr було distributing day of tender with the on越 Liudke the oh on The UK nearly ceramic this is confusing his possible tumors therapy that and then you'll be able to move the screen over to底 day deixa the mortgage section The first thing you do is to take the pinball, shoot your third ball, you can drop it in the orange section or not, and then shoot your fourth ball instead in any other hole. From there, shoot your fifth ball, drop it anywhere, and hold down the R button. What this is going to do is it's going to engage a rider which sits on one of the scoring cams and then open it up. If this opening doesn't happen at the appropriate time, then the red letter game will not start or it will kind of half start and do some funky stuff. Now, based on the red letter that's highlighted, the game is going to automatically choose some odds and features to give you and you just have to verify that it's doing what it says on the scorecard. If it doesn't, then you need to investigate either of the two red letter relays which sit in the backbox or your score Steppers. And with that lengthy description there, which hopefully helps and isn't too confusing in audio format, That is how I troubleshoot the entire scoring process in a MagicScreen game. Other types of games have different methods, both of keeping track of scores and of testing their features, so those are discussions for other days. But for now, that is all I do to test the MagicScreen games and it has only failed me in one instance where I had a problem in the green section of one game. It wouldn't pay five in a section and the reason for this was actually a slightly misadjusted search index switch. Z in most games. That required some careful finesse. Adjusting the switches is very difficult and it worked perfectly in every other situation, but that was the fix. So if you find yourself in a situation where the scoring is not making any sense and you cannot figure out why, all your steppers are rebuilt and cleaned and wonderful and beautiful. A unique Mr. Mr. With it because most of into last year and is very behind Ceys of comedyhui All right. Well, thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or like Brandon, you can call me on the bingo line. That's 724-BINGOS1, 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram, at N Baldridge or you can listen to us on our website which is formusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 1af5edce-f14c-46b6-8650-74b088c6833e*